by Timothy Rutt

Altadena Heritage looks at water issues in a public forum on Monday, Sept. 23 at the Altadena Community Center, 730 E. Altadena Drive:

Even forward-looking people who try to educate themselves are confused about water. Our goal is to increase Altadenans’ knowledge of and involvement in today’s water issues, including water security and water quality initiatives such as the recently dropped Clean Water, Clean Beaches Act (designed to put LA County in compliance with federal regulations.) We’ll focus somewhat on Altadena’s position at the top of the inhabited watershed, but on Southern California’s situation as well. We’d like people to understand local opportunities for management: capture, recharge, and treatment.

We also want to clarify who does what in Altadena, including oversight of public works projects. There is interest in reducing street width on steep north-south roads via the county’s “street diet” program to increase recharge with landscaping and curb cuts to channel storm water runoff into front yards, or to larger open spaces such as Mountain View Cemetery. How do we attract such projects to Altadena? Will a new version of Clean Water, Clean Beaches provide funds for such top of the watershed projects, or will the focus be on downstream mega projects and beaches?

The panel includes Chris Stone, LA County’s Water Resource Manager; Rich Atwater, Chairman of Foothills Municipal Water District (FMWD); and Tim Brick of the Arroyo Seco Foundation and former chairman of Metropolitan Water District. Local water purveyors including Pasadena are also invited, and most will send representatives, according to a release from Altadena Heritage.

The forum starts at 7 PM, and admission is free.